Pablo Legorreta, Royalty Pharma CEO (Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
BioCryst is filling its coffers again — this time in $350 million cash with the help of both old and new investors.
The Durham, NC biotech reported this morning that it inked yet another deal alongside a familiar name — Royalty Pharma for $200 million. Royalty was the same company that paid $125 million to BioCryst $BCRX last year in exchange for profits from the then-recently approved oral HAE drug Orladeyo.
And Canadian institutional investor OMERS — the one in charge of all local government pensions in Ontario, CA — also signed up for $150 million upfront.
The cash flow will help advance another drug in BioCryst’s pipeline — oral Factor D inhibitor BCX9930 — toward filing for registration and expand development to multiple undisclosed indications.
And of course, it will help invest some more into Orladeyo’s global launch after it got approved by the FDA last December. ‘We appreciate the confidence our partners are demonstrating in BioCryst with this financing as we continue to bring oral medicines to patients with rare diseases,’ said BioCryst CEO Jon Stonehouse in a prepared statement.
Here’s how the $350 million is broken down:
Royalty Pharma signed up for $200 million — $150 million upfront as cash in exchange for royalties on three of BioCryst’s drugs: BCX9930, an unnamed, earlier stage Factor D inhibitor and Orladeyo.
The royalties on the Factor D inhibitors are 3.0% on sales up to $1.5 billion and 2.0% on sales between $1.5 billion and the cap of $3.0 billion.
Royalty Pharma also now owns royalties of 0.75% on direct annual net sales of Orladeyo up to $350 million, and expanded to 1.75% on sales between $350 million and the max of $550 million. The deal also adds a tiered, declining percentage on Orladeyo sublicense revenue in certain territories.
These royalties are additional to the royalties purchased by Royalty Pharma last December.
Royalty Pharma also extended the deal with BioCryst with a $50 million equity investment at a price of $13.00 per share, the average price of BioCryst’s common stock over the last 20 days.
‘We are excited to expand our partnership with BioCryst to continue to support their growth journey,’ said Royalty Pharma founder and CEO Pablo Legorreta.
Now it’s OMERS’ turn. In exchange for $150 million in cash, OMERS bought capped and tiered royalties for annual net sales of Orladeyo. BioCryst won’t owe OMERS any royalties for the first two years — leaving the first royalty payment to OMERS for Q4 2023.
And since the royalties are capped, no more royalties will be paid out to OMERS once it gets its maximum total return, according to a BioCryst statement.
OMERS will receive a royalty of at least 7.5% on annual net sales up to $350 million, and 6.0% on sales between $350 million and the max of $550 million.
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https://endpts.com/biocryst-gets-massive-cash-infusion-to-the-tune-of-350m-thanks-to-old-and-new-investors/
